Poor, poor Norway. The country is suffering from a severe butter shortage, right in the middle of the holiday season.

According to Reuters, the scarcity is attributed to a low-carb/high-fat fad diet that has overtaken the Norwegian populous.

"Sales all of a sudden just soared, 20 per cent in October then 30 per cent in November," said Lars Galtung, the head of communications at TINE, the country’s biggest farmer-owned cooperative. [...]

Butter is now selling on Norway’s top auction website, with a 250-gram piece starting at around $13, roughly four times its normal price."

The widespread ketogenic diet is the corollary of steady weight gain across the Nordic country: According to a 2010 report, half of Norway's 4.9 million citizens are overweight, with 20 percent obese.

A diet low in carbohydrates and high in fat, while effective in treating epilepsy in children, is not-so-effective for long term weight loss maintenance. Perhaps Norwegians should have consulted Americans about that. Like, circa 2003.

Making matters worse, Norway — not a member of the European Union — imposes hefty duty fees on imports. That means little help from the E.U., nor from neighboring Denmark (a top dairy producer).